Rich states resettle barely one per cent of Syrian refugees: Oxfam

People queue up for food distributed at a makeshift camp occupied by migrants and refugees at the Greek-Macedonian border near the village of Idomeni on Friday. — AFP Photo

GENEVA – Wealthy countries have resettled only afraction of the nearly five million refugees who have fled Syria, Oxfam said onTuesday, urging them to step up and do their share.

The British charity called on wealthy countries to resettle at least 10 per cent of the 4.8 million Syrian refugees registered in the region surroundingthe war-ravaged nation by the end of the year.

So far, rich countries have pledged few than 130,000 resettlement spots,and only around 67,100 people – a mere 1.39 per cent of the refugees – havemade it to their final destinations since 2013, Oxfam said.

The charity issued its report ahead of an unprecedented UN-hostedconference in Geneva on Wednesday, where countries will be asked to pledgeresettlement spots for Syrian refugees.

As the brutal conflict enters its sixth year, most of the people who havefled are located in Syria’s immediate neighbours such as Turkey, Lebanon,Jordan and Iraq.

But as the war has dragged on and conditions have worsened in thesurrounding states, Syrians have increasingly set their sights on Europe,accounting for most of the more than one million migrants who risked theirlives crossing the Mediterranean last year.

They are also believed to be heavily represented among the more than 7,500people, including many children, who have died trying to make the crossingsince 2014.

Wednesday’s conference, which will be opened by UN Secretary General BanKi-moon, will aim to ensure "global responsibility sharing" for the crisissparked by Syria’s brutal conflict, which has claimed more than 270,000 lives.

’Disappointing’

"To date the response to calls of increased resettlement of vulnerablerefugees has been disappointing, and the conference is an opportunity forstates to mark a change of course," the Oxfam report said.

The charity said its analysis showed only three of the world’s wealthycountries – Canada, Germany and Norway – had pledged more resettlement spotsthan what was considered their "fair share" according to the size of theireconomies.

Five other countries, Australia, Finland, Iceland, Sweden and New Zealandhad meanwhile pledged more than half of their fair share, while the remaining20 nations included in the analysis fell far short, Oxfam said.

Thus, France had only so far pledged to take in 1,000 Syrian refugees, oronly four per cent of the nearly 26,000 considered to be its fair share, thereport said.

The United States, which has resettled 1,812 Syrian refugees and said itwill take in 10,000 more, has meanwhile pledged just seven per cent of thenearly 171,000 considered to be its fair share, it showed.

The Netherlands also stood at seven per cent, Denmark at 15 and Britain at22, Oxfam said.

"We need to show Syrian people that ’solidarity’ is an action, not asound-bite," Oxfam chief Winnie Byanyima said in a statement.

"Countries with a strong economy, good services and developedinfrastructure can immediately resettle 500,000 refugees between them – ifthey chose to," she said.

Byanyima said that in Lebanon, one in five inhabitants is a Syrianrefugees, while they constitute 10 per cent of the population in Jordan, whichcounts a refugee camp as its fourth largest "city."

"These countries have fragile economies and weak infrastructure. They canno longer shoulder this responsibility virtually alone," she said, insistingthat the Geneva conference "should result in urgent solutions, offering peoplesafe and legal routes to a welcome in third countries." — AFP